Rice and A&M considered 'overlooked' universities in college list

Erin Mulvane, Houston Chronicle

By Erin Mulvaney

Published 1:11 pm, Monday, March 4, 2013

One of the many banners marking milestones in the history of Rice University line the circle around campus Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012, in Houston. Rice celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle )
Photo: Brett Coomer, HC Staff

Two very different Texas universities made a recent list compiled to show "overlooked qualities" in colleges around the country.

The Daily Beast included Texas A&M University and Rice University in its "Amazing but Overlooked: 25 Colleges You Haven't Considered But Should." Texans already know about the 5,200 acre campus in College Station with 50,000 students and Rice with 3,700 undergraduates on the tree-lined Houston campus.

Rice's "overlooked quality" touted on the list is its diversity, with less than half of the student body coming from Texas and more than 10 percent foreign students. The university is racially and ethnically diverse as well, with a fifth Asian, a fifth African-American or Hispanic and 5 percent of two or more races.

Texas A&M Aggie's pride has always been high, but the list says the university is keeping up with the times and using social media to promote school spirit.

The list applauds A&M for its social media prowess, hyping an already high sense of pride for students and alumni that already come with being an Aggie.

The Daily Beast notes that two years ago the university launched a campus-wide scavenger hunt using Twitter, Foursquare, You Tube and Facebook to grow its audience. It touts the Twitter feed with almost 67,000 followers, high engagement on its Facebook pages and its Pinterest presence, which few schools have adopted.

"The online following has allowed the school to create excitement around campus developments, such as its entrance into the SEC last summer," the online news site states.